The Christian Institute & Others v HM Advocate

September 1, 2016

FACTS The appellants in this Supreme Court appeal are collectively known as No to Named Persons (NO2NP) and consist of three individual parents and four registered charities with interests in family matters. They challenge Part 4 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 (“the 2014 Act”) and its introduction of the compulsory Named […]

JUSTICE response: Request for further views on the provision of judicial review claimants’ financial information to other parties

August 16, 2016

In July 2015, the Government opened a consultation: Reform of Judicial Review: proposals for the provision and use of financial information (Cm 9117) on financial information to be disclosed by judicial review claimants pursuant to section 85 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 (“CJCA”). JUSTICE and the Public Law Project provided a Joint […]

JUSTICE welcomes Briggs’ Report

July 28, 2016

Radical thinking needed to secure civil justice for all. Our civil courts have come under increasing strain due to budget cuts and the rise of litigants in person. In April 2015, in ‘Delivering Justice in an Age of Austerity’, a Working Party of JUSTICE members recommended that radical reform was necessary to secure access to […]

JUSTICE response to the consultation on appeals to the Court of Appeals

June 27, 2016

The Court of Appeal is struggling to cope with its current workload. The result is a serious shortfall of judicial time, and a backlog of cases. To combat this problem, in May 2016 the Civil Procedure Rules Committee published a consultation on reforming the process of making an appeal to the Court of Appeal. The consultation document proposes […]

To Assist the Court: Third Party Interventions in the Public Interest

June 22, 2016

It is an old saying that there are at least two sides to every case.  A question for the courts is what happens when there are more than two? Over the past four decades, in a range of legally and constitutionally significant matters – from the treatment of children in detention to the jurisdiction of […]

JUSTICE briefing on Policing and Crime Bill

June 18, 2016

JUSTICE submitted a briefing in June 2016 ahead of House of Lords Second Reading Briefing Part 4. This briefing addresses the new pre-charge bail process set out under Chapter 1 of Part 4 of the Bill. JUSTICE welcomes the introduction of a presumption of release without bail. Where bail with conditions can be granted as […]

Call for nominations to JUSTICE working party: Diversity of the judiciary

May 25, 2016

As you know, JUSTICE has long been concerned about the composition and operation of our judiciary, with reports of our membership on the judiciary in 1972 and 1992.  You may recall that our strategy for 2014-2016 includes an objective for JUSTICE to revisit this work on the judiciary. With ongoing fundraising efforts starting to bear […]

McKenzie Friends

May 23, 2016

In February 2016, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales published a consultation on reforming the courts’ approach to McKenzie Friends, and the possible reform and replacement of the current Practice Guidance with, for instance, rules of court or updated Practice Guidance. It also raises the issue of how any such rules or Guidance […]

What is a Court?

May 18, 2016

A JUSTICE Working Party proposes a radical new approach A JUSTICE Working Party tonight (17th May 2016) recommended a fresh, principled and research-driven approach to the configuration of the court and tribunal estate in England and Wales. Its report calls for a radical rethinking of what our court buildings should look like in order to […]